Helping Out

I am back from helping my sister Stella., She had a back procedure to fix a vertebra that was cracking . This required ballooning it a little apart and putting bone cement in to fill in the crack. I am sure there is a lot of technical language to all this, but I do not know what it is, all I know it was a success and she is doing better, the pain she was experiencing is gone, she still has some backache but the doctor said it is because she was inactive for a time.

My sister now lives alone, about two years ago her husband had bypass surgery and a week later he had a heart attack, his name was John. Like most of us John did not take good care of himself, especially after he had his first attack in 1985, he still drank too much and his diet was not a healthy one, but thank goodness he had given up smoking. John was a good man but did not listen to his doctor or wife. He was out of the hospital a week, when rushed back, he had several attacks that put him on life support. The doctor told Stella that he was brain dead and probably paralyzed on one side, much decision was made and the children called from all over the country to come and make the decision to take life support away, John died the summer of 2006.

One benefit I had staying over to Stellas for two weeks was her cat had given birth two weeks ago to five kittens. Two were gray and white, two were black with some stripes and the runt was black and white, so I had two weeks to watch them grow.

By the time I went home they were trying to walk, not very steady though, it was fun to watch them waddle. The runt has a black goatee and Stella calls him Mr. Tee. The gray and white kitty has a dot above his right eye, the two black ones eyes were blue but at five weeks they are changing.

At five weeks they are like miniature cats and so full of energy, they run and jump on you and Stella has bought them many play toys and balls to run and catch. It did not take long for all the kittens to become litter trained, at first they tried to eat the litter but not now. Next week they will be taking their first trip to the vet, Stella will be glad to know what sex they are, she has a pretty good guess but wants to be sure. In three weeks she is going to try placing the kittens, that will be a sad time for her, I know she is attached to them all.

The mom cat belongs five houses down from Stella, but always hung around her house to be fed, but would not come to anyone. Jenna, Stellas granddaughter was visiting for two weeks with her mom and brother, she liked the cat and finally got her to come, that is when they discovered she was going to have kittens. The game began to try and get her to come in the house, but success was had, Stella kept her in even though mom was having none of it and tried to get out every chance she could, and did a lot of crying. This cat is like silk and no matter how much she eats is still thin, the reason my sister kept her is the man down the road has too many cats and there is kittens all over his yard. Her name is Meme and she loves to lay in the windows which there is a lot of, and the window sills are also large, I forgot to mention that Meme is black and white with a half black mustash.

I did enjoy my stay with my sister and she told me she was glad to have me help out. I was surprised that Stella was driving in a week and doing a lot for herself, but that is sis, does not really like to ask for help. I went over today and checked on her and the progress of the kittens and found everything is going well, and the kittens has went from roaming the whole house to be limited to the kitchen and laundry room, lots of room. I am glad they are litter trained, it is easier to manage them and they have started eating some foods and drinking milk.